The most important set of eyes in April's NFL draft did not work for a team. They did not belong to a scout, a coach or a personnel executive.

Those eyes belonged to a doctor. Dr. James Andrews put Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford's throwing shoulder back together, allowing him to be the first overall pick.

The decision to draft a player coming off a serious injury is not taken lightly. The Broncos drafted two players in April — wide receivers Demaryius Thomas and Eric Decker — who have yet to practice full speed because they are still recovering from foot surgery. Thomas was the first player Denver selected, 22nd overall.

"You don't know how much something like that will affect where you go," Thomas said. "I know I just tried to hope for the best."

The Broncos' other first-round selection this year, quarterback Tim Tebow, was one of the most decorated players in college football history, a two-time national champion and the 2007 Heisman winner. But some scouts estimated he played almost half his college games dealing with some kind of injury.

He suffered a severe concussion during the 2009 season, had surgery on his nonthrowing (right) shoulder to remove a bone spur, took painkilling injections for an aching shoulder, played with a hyperextended knee and missed significant practice with back pain.

Decker has had two surgeries to repair a Lisfranc injury, involving a ligament in the arch of the foot, and had arthroscopic knee surgery in 2008 to go with rib, shoulder and ankle injuries, along with a concussion while at Minnesota.

"You evaluate what you see," Broncos coach Josh McDaniels said. "You see how the player has played when he's been on the field. You gather as much information as you can about his particular situation, and you make as informed a decision as possible."

For longtime Broncos fans, the name Paul Toviessi exemplifies potential failure in evaluating injured players. Former Broncos coach Mike Shanahan made Toviessi, a defensive lineman from Marshall, the team's second-round pick of the 2001 draft despite a history of knee difficulties in college. Toviessi had multiple surgeries that failed to repair the joint, and he never played a game for the Broncos.

"It's always a question for the doctors," said Shanahan, now coach of the Washington Redskins. "I've seen guys recover from serious things and play 10 years, and some do not. You can't know for sure, but you listen to the doctors, look at the information and you make the call."

Every NFL franchise has doctors on call to look at every conceivable injury, as well as a full training staff. Every team has its full medical and training staff on hand to examine every draft prospect invited to the scouting combine in Indianapolis. Any player who has had surgery is sent to a local medical center for any additional X-rays or magnetic resonance imaging exams.

"No question, I would say it's one of the more important things we do there," Houston Texans general manager Rick Smith said. "The interviews are important, the workouts are important, but the medical information is a key part of the evaluation."

Shanahan always has been regarded as one of the bigger risk takers. Teams such as the Redskins, Broncos, Patriots and Bengals are more apt to take a risk on a player dealing with an injury because those teams have head coaches who are the primary decision-makers in the personnel department.

The Broncos have taken a conservative approach with Thomas and Decker so far. Neither has participated in the full team workouts, and McDaniels said they won't be rushed to get on the field.

"We're going to err on the side of being real careful and not putting them in a situation where it's the last day of minicamp on June 13th and all of a sudden there's a broken foot," McDaniels said. "If there's a guy borderline ready, we're not going to push it."

Decker said that's fine with him.

"You listen to the doctors, listen to what they say," he said. "If they tell you you'll make a full recovery, that it's going to be fine, you work as hard as you can to get back. You always want to push it, get back sooner and play, but you have to be smart."

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